High Five When You See a ’10

April 19, 2010

Isn’t it fabulous to see the amount of ’10 Registration Cars on the roads since the start of the year.

Last year people, even those with the necessary funds were wary about buying a new car due to the “what would people think” syndrome – we need the positive activity to set the wheels in motion for our economy!

So, the car sales are up 31% in the first quarter – if you think about it this is probably with about 2/3 of the garages that were there last year and the good chance is that the existing garages are well down in staff numbers – time to start recruiting I wonder? Maybe a little bit premature? Whichever way you look at it – it leads to a higher tax take for the government and an industry starting to move again and some funds are back in circulation. All of those garages and car salesmen have money to spend elsewhere.

From what I can gather those sales are probably less than they should be – a few car salesmen I have spoken to have been telling me that accessing cars is a difficulty due to pessimistic predictions when they were placing advance orders – you will be lucky to get a new 5 Series BMW before next September!

And what else does all that mean? – well, that is a lot of positively motivated individuals driving around in their new cars – a new car is a great feeling – well done! It does put the rest of us in the mind for a new car – it’s a positive target to have for all of us. I want to buy a new car in 2010 – that’s a goal for you.. try to make it happen.

The “confidence wheel” is simple and this is what will get our country moving again, not any superb government policy – in my view their attempts to positively mobilise Ireland have just not happened. On the jobs creation front there has been zero strategy – the government have even slashed budgets in “job creation” departments, I’m deadly serious – if anyone has the time to check budget allocations, check out if budgets in government departments with the agenda of helping new business have been increased? – I promise you they have been cut in the same way as everything else, strategy – I don’t think so!

Ok, so there is positivity creeping through and that is coming from “us”, from pure positive attitude.

Performance will follow “positive attitude” – despite the odds, so keep it going.

While we are on the “positive” agenda and this is so critical for recovery I can finally report that the house across from us has been sold!

The sale seemed to be almost completed and then fall through a few times in the last 9 months. The same banks that would have handed out a mortgage at double the price have eventually approved a loan to our new neighbour (and they have picked up a fabulous bargain at the bottom of the market) at half the price. Something wrong somewhere!

Sherry Fitzgerald - Sold!

The Big "Sold"

The amusing thing is the sign put up by, Sherry Fitzgerald the auctioneers – in the same way that I am saying to celebrate the ’10, the auctioneers are celebrating the ‘sale’ with giant ‘SOLD’ text across their signs.

Well done to whoever is completing purchases out – high 5 when you see a  ’10 and celebrate those ‘Sold‘ and lease agreed signs – things are looking up, celebrate the positivity that is all of us ..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications, Marketing & PR

Protected: Credit Control Warrior

April 10, 2010

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Businesses Still Opening despite the odds ..

March 29, 2010
Karizma - Turkish Barbers

Karizma - Turkish Barbers

Despite the odds new businesses are still opening up in the middle of this economic climate.

What is this due to ?

Is this an entrepreneurial spirit that just cannot be crushed? – unique individuals, who despite bucket loads of advice not to do so, struggles to raise finance from powerless and frightened bankers,  little incentive to even bother trying and poor support from any government bodies – and they still decide to risk their money without a safety net and take the ultimate plunge and open up a “new business”.

Thank God – the landlords, the shop fitters, the signage guys, the staff, the local councils and the revenue all benefit & maybe the odd Marketing & PR Company!

I absolutely celebrate inside when I pass these new stores/businesses.

Long live the entrepreneurial spirit, it won’t be broken!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

Students “Doing the Business”

March 29, 2010

CIT Student Prize for InnovationI had the honour and pleasure of being one of the judges at the Cork Schools Enterprise Finals at CIT in Cork this month. This initiative was sponsored by Cork County and City Enterprise Boards.

It basically consisted of transition year students starting a business and running it as a project as part of their development. In my section I was judging the City entrants with Natasha Lynch from Essential French and we had 6 good contestants to review. It was a pity there weren’t more entrants from the City but I guess the schools are quite busy these days – I would recommend it to any school as it seemed like a fabulous experience for all of them.

It was incredible meeting these enthusiastic students, who showed us their business plans, their ideas, their “inventions”. They shared with us their real-life experiences including “power struggles” and disagreements, disappointments and successes along the way. They poured their energy into all of their projects and already you could see how these unique experiences will stand to all of them.

To all of those students, their teachers, CIT  and the Cork City and County Enterprise Boards – I salute you!

To the winners (which from my point of view was everyone who participated and learnt valuable life lessons) well done guys, you deserved it. To the guys from my old school Spioraid Naoimh, keep up the good work – next year you might be in the prizes!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

Get Results – Complain Online!

March 1, 2010

This is just a very simple follow up piece on an issue that I was having with Eircom, which was dragging on and on forever.

Basically I was pretty much getting no satisfaction, I was being passed from pillar to post and getting nowhere fast.

In the meantime I read an interesting article about how many years ago a guy in the States blogged about lousy service he had received from Dell Computers. Once he had blogged the post was noticed online and soon there was an avalanche of people with the same problems & eventually Dell spotted the commotion, reacted and more importantly took the issues on board and sorted out some serious issues they were having.

Eircom

Eircom Business

I took the same approach and put my frustration on my blog (I circulated this through Facebook & Linkedin) and found that while no one in Eircom was listening through the normal channels the story online was quite different!

Within hours I had a guy onto me directly from Eircom responding to my blog post. The issue that had been dragging on forever was sorted within a week (well hopefully, when I get the credit I will know it is sorted).

On the positive side the issue was sorted, on the negative why did it take an online post to get a reaction?

The power of online media ..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

Have we less to say to our Customers?

February 15, 2010
Billboard Advertising

Billboard Advertising in Ireland

I am amazed by the amount of empty billboards that I am seeing around the country at the moment.

In what I consider to be quite a good location quite close to where we live there are three billboards and they have been empty pretty much since the start of the year – eventually this weekend two of them were filled.

There are clearly huge cutbacks going on by the big mainstream advertisers.

Why did we advertise last year? The year before?

Is now a time for advertising less?

Is now a time for not talking to your customers?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

What would Darwin think of Nama?

February 9, 2010

Charles Darwin the English scientist who passed away in 1882 had a very famous quote “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change”

What would he make of our property industry? In the muck for the best part of two years and no new initiatives, besides reducing prices and passing the buck from the developers to the banks to Nama. Is this the best that we can do?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

Eircom Business – Are you listening to your customers (part 2)

February 8, 2010
Eircom Business

Eircom Business

This is a really strange one.

If you recall on my last blog on this issue I was sharing a huge frustration that I was having with Eircom Business for quite a while and quite politely getting nowhere fast.

I am not sure if this is good or bad? – Eircom actually responded literally within hours – ‘to my blog’ and not to my actual complaint.

The caller from Eircom Customer services, quite a nice lad Vince wanted to know in detail the nature of my complaint – this I guess is good?

Eircom cared enough to track what was being said by customers online and responded by tracking me down and listening to what I had to say.

On the negative side you must wonder why the ‘official’ channels don’t seem to work as well as the ‘online’ and unofficial public channels.

The issue still isn’t resolved, which is quite staggering, but I did get a response, which I guess is hopeful at least.

I will keep you posted ..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

Eircom Business Customer Service!

February 4, 2010
Eircom Business

Eircom Business

I am sure that I am not the first to have experienced lousy customer service but I just have to blog about Eircom. At a time when we are all busting a gut to get by, delivering excellent customer service it astounds me how some companies can get away with the total opposite.

Without going into the blow by blow of the story they made a total shambles of a simple leasing agreement on a phone system and put us on a careless business tariff that had us paying about €300/400 too much every month. This went on for over a year – I was offered a credit of €200.

Read on …. the text of my last email to them (lets see if they are listening to their customers online: I will circulate the blog on LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter)

email: 4th Feb 2010

Hi Padraic,

This is going from bad to worse ..

In response to your efforts to get this sorted on your side I received a call yesterday from a ‘Debbie’ in Eircom.

While very pleasant and courteous she seemed to be quite junior. She politely explained that her credit jurisdiction did not extend beyond €200 and if I wanted to achieve something more than this I would have to make an ‘official complaint’!

Aaaaaahhhhhhh …. what in the name of god is going on at Eircom.

In fairness to Debbie she saw the funny side and acknowledged that what was going on and my steady flow of correspondence did qualify me as ‘a complainer’. She totally empathised with me and promised that someone with some sort of authority would call me back in half an hour.

I needn’t tell you that I never received a call from anyone.

Officially ‘This is a complaint’ to Eircom and not me writing for the fun of it.

I would appreciate some action please.

Regards,

Greg Canty

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

Michael Courtney Tribute

February 1, 2010
We will meet again

We will meet again

Last week (26th January) a man that was very special to us sadly and unexpectedly passed away.

We were working together on the Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial Committee in Killarney for the last two years. Michael Courtney, a Councillor in Killarney and Chairman of the Committee brought energy, warmth, commitment and a unique sense of humour to the project. The whole team have made terrific strides since we began the project and in Michael’s honour we will be even more determined to achieve our ultimate goal.

Michael always appreciated our input to the project and thanked us  in such a way that made you always feel very special.

We will miss him greatly at our meetings and we will especially miss the cup of tea afterwards in the restaurant at the International Hotel, where he always spent half the time chatting to pretty much everyone who entered the restaurant!

Michael, thank you ..

Greg Canty is a partner at Fuzion Communications